The Distillation

Cannabis churches have emerged around the country. Courts have not granted such organizations protection under the First Amendment to violate drug laws, though the Supreme Court in 2006 found religious use of ayahuasca is allowed under religious-freedom legislation passed by Congress to allow American Indians to use peyote. Armstrong believes a case her organization has pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit may pave the way for a new legal precedent for cannabis.

A group that believes there is an ancient and little-known connection between Christianity and cannabis plans to burn oil full of psychoactive cannabinoids inside the nation's largest Roman Catholic church during the solar eclipse on August 21. Armstrong says infused olive oil will be put at the bottom of a metal censer and topped with incense for use during a prayer service. "We're timing it to coincide with the eclipse, there's a lot of interesting astrological things going on," she says. The oil will be "full spectrum with THC," the cannabinoid that produces a high, she says. "The holy chrism must have THC in it to be effective," she says. After a ceremony inside the basilica, Armstrong plans to take participants outside, where they will exhale cannabis smoke through a large ceremonial horn, a practice she says is borrowed from the Bible.

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